We were living, in our opinion, on the best court in Mission Beach. Had great neighbors, a prime location and great weather. Our home was located on a peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean on one side and Mission Bay on the other. In about fifty steps east or west, you'd hit water.

We loved our home and with a lot of help from my friend Brenda Pierce and her caulking and painting skills, and Jane Pierce holding the ladder and painting without any mess skills, we worked hard to make it perfect. But…we were ready for a change. Once we made the decision, the noise and the congestion seemed to worsen. We were excited to get on the road, to be somewhere quiet. To see new things. All of our hard work paid off, the house sold the first day on the market for full asking price! We put what we wanted to keep in storage and sold the house furnished. (Yes! Didn't have to move that heavy furniture!

The house we sold. We loved it, but were ready to down size!

Our last night we had dinner and drinks with our friends Mark and Jane. They started out as neighbors and now are family. They are what I'm going to miss the most about living there.

The day escrow closed, we were on the road. With what belongings we thought we needed to start RV living. It was a little strange walking away with all of our "stuff" still in the house. Although, now I know, when I buy new stuff, to get something with less grooves and notches that collect dust.

We left early in the morning, it was going to be a long day of traveling! We had our new Ford parked at the fire station in Cathedral City where Paul works. So, we had to go there first and trade the small truck for the big one. From there it was a six hour drive up to Central California to the RV sales lot. Of course, we had to hunt down an In-and Out Burger on the road. The navigation system was new to us, and I just wanted to yell at the female voice "find me a damn hamburger, Lady!". Finally, I gave up and used my tried and true iphone app.

We had to stay a couple of nights on the RV sales lot, so they could install equipment on the truck. It sure was nice to have air-conditioning! The camper was all we had hoped it would be. Perfect for us.

The camper technician showed us how everything worked and how to load it on the back of the truck. Much nail biting for me! And we were off, headed back south. With of course, another stop at In-and-Out along the way. I drove it for about an hour, and was surprised how easy it is to drive. We have had a motorhome and a huge fifth-wheel and driving those was scary for me.

We stopped at a nice little RV park that night in Redlands, since our month long reservation didn't start until the next night. The next day we had to retrieve the small truck form Cathedral City and back to San Diego for a month. It's only 5 miles from our former home, but gives us a chance to see what we need from storage, and what we need to put back in storage.